THE Israeli army has boarded the Madleen ship, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has said.
Shortly after 1am (GMT) on Monday, the coalition confirmed that Israeli forces had boarded the aid vessel which was en route to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance.
In a statement on Telegram at 1.14am, the group said: "IOF has boarded the vessel. Connection has been lost to Madleen."
The group also shared a CCTV image of the crew sat inside the ship wearing lifejackets with their hands raised.
A video posted by the coalition also shows the crew in the moments before the ship was intercepted by Israeli forces.
In the video, they sit wearing life vests with their hands raised in the air as they throw their phones into the water.
SOS messages to follow#alleyesonMadleen pic.twitter.com/O02sv5c1jW
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 9, 2025
An alarm was first raised on the ship shortly after 11pm GMT on Sunday, as crew members said four vessels approached the ship. Two of the vessels left, while the other two remained.
Then at approximately 12.30am on Monday, the coalition said drones had been spotted above the ship.
Video footage from crew members onboard the Madleen shows a white substance which had been thrown onto the ship. The coalition described the substance as "irritant", with several crew members reporting that their eyes were burning.
— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas) June 8, 2025
The coalition provided a further update at around 12.50am, saying that the Madleen was "under assault in international waters" and that communications had been jammed.
At 1.14am, the group said the Israeli army had boarded the Madleen. There has been no communication from the Madleen since.
The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed that it had intercepted the Madleen, saying in a statement that the ship was "safely making its way to the shores of Israel" and that "the passengers are expected to return to their home countries".
The statement reads: "While Greta [Thunberg] and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity – and which included less than a single truckload of aid – more than 1200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza."
The ministry added that "the tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels."
The Madleen set sail from Sicily on June 1 with the aim of delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. Organisers said it was carrying supplies such as baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches and children’s prosthetics.
It was sailing in international waters off the Egyptian coast when it was intercepted.
There are twelve civilian crew members on board the ship, which is flying the UK flag, including Swedish climate and social justice campaigner Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan.
The crew members are:
- Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate and social justice activist
- Baptise Andre, French physician
- Omar Faiad, French journalist with Al Jazeera
- Reva Viard, French climate activist
- Rima Hassan, French member of the European parliament, representing La France Insoumise party
- Yanis Mhamdi, French journalist with independent media outlet Blast
- Pascal Maurieras, French activist
- Suayb Ordu, Turkish activist
- Marco van Rennes, Dutch marine engineering student
- Sergio Toribio, Spanish crew member, a member of marine conservation NGO Sea Shepherd
- Thiago Avila, Brazilian journalist, social activist and politician
- Yasemin Acar, German activist of Kurdish descent
Earlier on Sunday, the online tracker providing real-time updates on Madleen's whereabouts temporarily stopped working and showed the ship's coordinates as being in Jordan, which the group said was as a result of "signal jamming".
Israel had previously said that it planned to intercept the Madleen if it continued towards Gaza. And prior to the interception, Israel's foreign ministry described the ship as a "selfie yacht", dismissing it as a "media gimmick for publicity".
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has urged people to get in touch with the foreign ministries of the civilians who were on board the Madleen.
On Saturday, the group called on the UK Government for "protection", given that the ship is flying the UK flag.
Just hours before the Israeli army intercepted the Madleen, the UK Government sent a spy plane from its RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus to surveil Gaza.
